During a recent a conversation, my daughter asked me a question that I had never asked myself. A question that in 39 years of life had never entered my brain. No thought had ever been given to it. That question…..
“What do you love about you?”
I, like most I assume, have spent numerous hours of my life focused on the things that I dislike and hate about myself. My attention consistently centered on my shortcomings. My inadequacies in the spotlight, examined under the microscope. Let’s face it. We all have things about us, our bodies, our lives that we are unhappy with. We want to look this way, we want to change that, we strive for perfection. The truth is that we live life with a false expectation. We get so caught up in the noise of society and what others are doing and saying that our judgement becomes clouded. Our sight becomes distorted. We strive for an unrealistic standard and fail to accept who we are.
I, like so many, have struggled with self-acceptance over the years. As a teen I was tall and very skinny (almost skeleton looking) and weak. My face was covered with acne. I walked bowlegged. All of these things led to wisecracks and jokes from others. As an adult, I still get acne, my body has moved to the other spectrum with a big gut, and my hair is falling out. It is very easy to look in the mirror and be disappointed in what I see. I learned years ago that none of those things are important. I became comfortable in my skin. I fully accepted who I was and who I am. Many people in our world have not been able to reach that point. Their self-hatred has led them down a path of depression, sadness, suicide attempts and loneliness. They are in pain. They are hurting. They need to know that they are not alone. My daughter was in that place.
So MaKenna’s question is an important one. A simple question like “What do you love about you?” can completely shift our thought process. A shift from a negative mindset to one of love and positivity. A small adjustment in thought could change the trajectory of our lives. That is what she hopes to accomplish. “I Love Me” is a project that she created to encourage people to share what they love about themselves. To seek those attributes that make them who they are. The characteristics that make them special, unique and one-of-a-kind. We must find the ability to love ourselves so that we can easily and adequately love other people. That is what “I Love Me” is all about.
I encourage you to ask yourself the question today. Go to Makenna’s blog and share why you love yourself. Encourage your friends to do it too. You can also post a photo of yourself saying “I Love Me” and post in on social media using the hashtag #ILoveMe2016. Let’s help this young lady help others move towards self-love and acceptance.
What do I love about me? I love that I am weird and different. I love that I am truly one-of-a-kind and there is no one in this world exactly like me. What do YOU love about YOU?
impact52.org 